This invention relates to an improvement in the conventional acupuncture therapy and more particularly to an electrical therapeutic apparatus for curing various diseases and bodily disorders by applying a voltage at a selected frequency and wave shape including a low frequency and a high frequency to a diagnostic point on the affected meridians in the human body.
Acupuncture, one aspect of Oriental medicine, dates almost as far back as Oriental history itself. It was first described in detail as early as the 4th Century B.C. in the ancient Chinese documents on medicine and constituted the main major branch of medicine in the Orient until more recent times when Western medicine gained popularity.
Acupuncture is based on the theory that the physiological activity of the body is controlled by 12 meridians which flow through the body which, in turn is governed by the universe, the natural phenomena surrounding the individual and his psychological disposition. The origin and cause of various diseases and bodily disorders are defined as an abnormality or imbalance in the flow of energy through these meridians. This imbalance can be corrected using a highly sophisticated technique which involves the stimulation of various points along the meridian. This technique also produces an exceedingly effective relief for pain which has been realized and put into practical use for a period of approximately 3,000 years. The strength and duration of this pain killing effect is sufficiently powerful to endure even a surgical procedure, however, not until recently has it been used in surgery. In most cases, the acupuncture therapy is carried out depending upon the therapeutist's highly sophisticated technique.
Recently there has been proposed and practiced an electric acupuncture therapy where a specific voltage is applied to the human body through needles to obtain anesthetic and analgetic effects in various reaction points on the affected meridian in the body. However, the conventional electric acupuncture therapy is not normally endorsed by scientific and clinical experiments but merely used as an electrical stimulator with insufficient therapeutical effects.
In view of these backgrounds, my research has been directed to replace an ancient Chinese medicine by a sophisticated electrical therapy by simply selecting and regulating the voltage to be applied to the human body.
After an extensive research, I have found out that various kinds of diseases may be cured by applying a predetermined voltage of selected frequency of specific wave shape suitable to the affected meridian corresponding to the deficient or excessive point in the body to balance with the meridian on the healthy point and that the specific frequency may be preferably selected from the range between 2.5 KHz to 1.6 MHz in accordance with the condition of the patient.
Further, the acupuncture therapy is usually used with a view to obtaining two therapeutical effects in accordance with two different therapeutic methods referred to as "tonification" and "sedation." The electrical therapeutic apparatus, therefore, should have a capability of attaining at least two different therapies.
The tonification and sedation used in the acupuncture therapy have counter functions. The tonification increases the deficient reaction at selected acupuncture points with a soft and mild stimulation for a relatively extended period.
On the other hand, sedation decreases and any excessive reaction at the selected acupunture point to a strong and destructive stimulation over a short period.
A general object of my inventions, therefore, is to provide a new electrical therapeutic apparatus for applying a predetermined voltage having a frequency of the specific wave to the human body.